American conservatives have chosen two Tea Party favourites as their preferred
candidates for the next Presidential election, in a vote that highlighted
divisions among Republicans four months after their election defeat.

Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who made headlines for his
13-hour filibuster in protest of the Obama administration’s secrecy over
drone strikes, came top in the Conservative
Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll. Securing 25 per cent of
the vote, which was held at the end of the three-day conference, Mr Paul
narrowly beat Marco Rubio, Senator for Florida, who received 23 per cent.